úlfheðnar, httyd

xxviii. The Bewilderbeast

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter twenty-eight; yrsa
❝ the bewilderbeast! ❞

     YRSA REMEMBERED, not long ago, she had been begging to have known Valka to have even the slimmest idea what she was up for in her near future. A wife of a Chief? Yrsa never thought herself capable. It had always been on her mind when she got betrothed, but Hiccup was always so distant from that specific responsibility even she forgot about it sometimes. Now, Valka stood right before her; tall, slender, beautiful━it was like Yrsa was staring at another Hiccup in her soul and her mind, in her smile and the way her face lit up. He was so much like his mother, it startled her, because for all her life so far, all she's seen was Hiccup next to his father and the differences were plenty in stature. (Not so much personality, of course, they were just as stubborn as the other). 

     She realised she wanted to be proper, and good, and make Valka like her. While there was a part of her that wanted to bring up the fact she had abandoned Hiccup for twenty years, since Hiccup seemed to have forgiven that truth over his surprise (and happiness), Yrsa didn't. She suspected it wasn't her place, and if Hiccup was going to forgive his mother, then Yrsa was going to be nice. And it was easy when Valka gushed at her beauty and made her laugh from the questions she asked her son. And the way he was smiling at Yrsa━gods, of course, she saw, and it made her blush even more. 

      Valka decided to turn back to Toothless, and Yrsa glanced back over at Hiccup, walking to him━she wanted to be by his side, to be there for him, but to also just give him this moment. He hasn't met his mother; he couldn't remember her━all he heard was stories and here she was, alive, and just like him. 

      But he appreciated it. He took her hand and held it tight, keeping her with him at his side like they've always been━ever since they found Toothless. 

      "How did you manage to find him?" Valka was murmuring, back to petting and pampering Toothless who was by far happy to receive it. Yrsa smiled at her friend and Helrose who just wanted attention, too, dipping her head under and purring. Their dragons have latched onto Valka very quickly, and in Yrsa's experience, that was always a good sign.

       But that sentence; that question, it sent Hiccup into a flurry of nerves. He gripped Yrsa's hand tighter as he looked away, fiddling with one of his braids. He probably thought as soon as his mother heard the story, she'd be horrified. Yrsa squeezed his palm encouragingly. 

      Hiccup took a deep breath and muttered, "Yrs and I found him in the woods," he began. "He━he was shot down━" he began his gestures, subtle and weak━as he always did when he was anxious, "━and wounded..."

      Valka's face fell. She turned around, and her brows furrowed into a furious anger. Hiccup couldn't meet that gaze. Yrsa pursed her lips, feeling a bout of shame herself━she had gone to the woods in the first place to kill Toothless ... 

       With a sigh, Valka left Toothless and wandered over to a bright blue-scaled dragon with gorgeous burnt-orange spots. "This Snafflefang lost his leg━" she brushed his snout and gestured to a lumped limb near his tail, "━to one of Drago Bludvist's iron traps. This Raincutter━" she extended her fingers up to one of the taller dragons "━had her wing sliced by a razor netting. And this━oh━this poor Hobblegrunt..." Valka turned to a hestiant, shuffling dragon, gently holding out her hands for the dragon to sniff, for his eyes were albeit a milky, distant white. As soon as he recognised her, he brushed against her palm, scales turning a happy yellow, "was blinded by a tree snare and then left to die alone and scared."